Save the river! Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum will host Bernie Fowler’s 24th Annual Patuxent River Wade In on Sunday, June 12, 2011 at 1:00 P.M. The event is free and open to the public. Guests are asked to “wade” into the river with Fowler, to test the clarity of the water, the goal of the event is to increase awareness of the condition of the Patuxent River.

Past senator Bernie Fowler is a long time Calvert County resident, and has been a chair of the Patuxent River Commission for many years. Throughout his career, Fowler worked to prevent the continued degradation of the Patuxent River, as well as the Chesapeake Bay. Fowler advocates through having a personal connection to the environment. Before his involvement in politics, Fowler was a waterman on the Patuxent. His own personal tracking mechanism for testing water clarity known as the “Bernie Fowler Sneaker Index” has been used by the USEPA as a national example. The method involves walking out into a river until losing sight of one’s feet or sneakers to determine the clarity of the water. The clearer the water, the less suspended materials and pollutants present.

Jefferson Patterson Park & Museum, a state museum of archaeology and home to the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Laboratory, is a program of the Maryland Historical Trust, a division of the Maryland Department of Planning. It is located on 560 scenic acres along the Patuxent River and the St. Leonard Creek in St. Leonard, Calvert County, Maryland. For more information, call 410-586-8501 or visit www.jefpat.org.